done”

Mindy’s eyes smoldered and the hair on the back of her neck bristled. I caught Mindy’s eyes and nodded toward the roof. I hoped she knew how to travel by rooftop like Balto and I could. She gave a tiny nod, small enough to not be noticed, then stood up and started to shout at Klondike again. As she shouted, she slowly moved towards me until she was right in front of me.

                        “And now look what you’ve made me do!” she barked dramatically. “Now I have to leave!”

She easily leapt onto a trashcan to the fence. I instinctively scooped up Andy so that he wouldn’t get hurt in the sure-to-come scuffle and hopped up on the fence after her. The dogs we had left behind started to bark and scramble after us, but they couldn’t balance on the fence when they tried to copy us. When I turned back to look where I was going, I realized Mindy couldn’t either. She scrambled across the planks and wobbled all over the place as she went along.

“Easy Mindy!” I barked as she wobbled and almost fell.

She glanced over her shoulder to say something… big mistake. Off the fence she fell, into the next alley over from where we had just been. By accident, she grabbed onto me and all three of us fell into the snow. Groaning, I pulled myself to my feet and my eyes adjusted on the five huskies that had caught up with us. The still silent Andy hung from my mouth by the scruff of his neck. It was a miracle I was able to hold onto him at all. Then something clicked in the back of my mind. I was cornered. No way out. A pup hung from my mouth. A group of dogs/ wolves blocked me and they were led by the one I hated the most. But I was not going to let this end like it did the first time!

With a soft thud, I dropped Andy and walked straight towards Klondike. I could work around whatever rules he had set up!

“You must be so proud!” I said quietly. “You finally caught your newest enemy”

            “I am-.” Klondike started, clearly confused.

“I mean I would if I was embarrassed that badly in front of everyone”

Klondike’s ears flattened back and he narrowed his eyes. He didn’t say anything, but I was getting the results I wanted.

“I mean, just think. Some of the dogs you used to scare won’t be afraid of you for a long time to come and that’s all because of me. You might even lose control of this town…”

Klondikestood up and glared at me, still trying to figure out what I was doing.

            “Just… shut up!” he managed to sputter, confused.

“And have I told you about your son?” I asked, getting right in his face so that our noses almost touched. “He likes me better then you. He likes a half bred-.”

Klondikesmacked me across the face; hard enough to send me rolling to the ground. Which was just what I wanted. I picked myself of the ground, sprang at Klondike and pinned him. Klondike’s friends ran at me.

“Uh-uh. This is only in self defense. You can’t attack”

They froze but their eyes darted to their leader, each other and then back to me, unsure of what to do. I turned back to Klondike.

“If this is the only way to get to you, so be it but listen to me” I started. “I don’t like you and you clearly don’t like me. I haven’t done anything wrong more then you have but I’m willing to stay out of your way if you stay out of mine. Like a truce, okay?”

Klondikeconsidered it and regretfully nodded. I stepped off of him and let him get up. There was one more thing I needed to say though.

“And your son doesn’t like me as much as he does you…”

Klondike, confused as ever, studied me. I had to say it… I used to only have one son and if he had ever liked anyone else more and I hated them, I could only imagine. I turned to walk away and nodded for Mindy to follow me. I could still feel Klondike’s eyes on me as we left.

            “What was that all about?” Mindy asked curiously.

“It’s called a truce” I said. “It’s when two dogs call it even”

            “I know what that is!” she said, playfully shoving me. “I mean, before you started the fight, you were like in a trance… and then that thing about Andy…”

“It’s a long story…”

Disappointed, Mindy looked down.

“But maybe it’s about time I told someone” I said quietly.

Mindy looked at me curiously.

“It really is long… is there somewhere we can talk in private?”

Mindy led me to the boiler room and we both lay down in front of the heater. For the next few hours I told her about everything. I told her about Boss and our grudge. When I told her about my family, I started to choke up a little… but when I told her about how they had gotten killed I felt a few tears trickle down my cheeks. Someone scuffled behind the door when I was almost finished telling my story but I didn’t worry. I knew it was Balto and he deserved to hear the whole story too.

“And that’s why I’m here” I finished.

Mindy stayed quiet for a few seconds but finally looked up.

            “Oh” she said quietly. “No wonder you wanted nothing to do with me”

Which brought up something else. The wolf part of me told me to spend the rest of my life alone. But the dog side of me told me that the weeks of getting over it had made room for a second chance.

“So are you still looking for a mate?”

 Buck, Mindy, Talus, Andy and Klondike (c) me

Aniu, Balto, Sylvie, Dixie and Jenna (c) Universal